Giulia has won the WWE Women's United States Championship by defeating Zelina Vega on the June 27, 2025 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, which took place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
How did this go down tonight, what led to this, and what could be on the horizon? Let's break it all down!
How We Got Here:
Zelina Vega won her first singles championship in WWE (if you don't count the Queen's Crown, now the Queen of the Ring tournament) on the April 25th episode of SmackDown by beating Chelsea Green, the inaugural champion. This has been a major point of pride for Vega, but sadly, WWE didn't show much interest in giving her a solid title reign.
Less than a month later, Giulia was traded over to SmackDown and it didn't take long before she had her sights set on this belt, making it clear she would be gunning for Vega. Instead of building a feud between the two, WWE spent the next few weeks with Vega basically saying that she wanted a confrontation, only to be bumped off the show's broadcast lineup and then being announced for this match without much fanfare.
Match Details:
There isn't much to talk about for the match itself. They wrestled a generic contest, with both trading blows here and there. Eventually, Giulia hit her Northern Lights Bomb finisher and that was that.
Like everything else that has happened over the past two months, this felt more like a means to an end, rather than an "enjoy the journey" situation.
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
Curiously, Giulia lost the NXT Women's Championship after holding it for 63 days, and Vega's now dropped her title to Giulia on day 63. Is that a karma situation, or just a coincidence?
It sucks that Vega was so clearly put in this position to solely be a transitional champion that they never believed in and had no plans to utilize properly. She's someone who has been on the roster long enough and is consistently overlooked, for whatever reason. While it's not a bad thing that Giulia is champion, and it'll be interesting to see what she does with a belt since she also barely had a run with the NXT title, it's just a shame that it had to come at the expense of Vega.
Giulia will have a longer run. I expect her to at least hold the title going into the autumn months, if not still holding it at the start of 2026 or longer. As far as potential successors, that depends a lot on if the roster shift at any time with a draft or some trades. If not, Jade Cargill, Tiffany Stratton, and Alexa Bliss could all be in the running.
Tell us what you think about this title change by leaving a comment below! Who do you think will be the next in line to challenge for the title, or possibly even win the belt next? Keep the discussion going!